As a follower of celebrity gossip, I buy certain weekly magazines on occasion to catch up with what my favorite stars are up to. One magazine always has a section called "Celebrities, They're Just Like Us!" which I disdain. They include pics of celebrities being "just like us" normal folks, and include such stupid things as buying groceries, wearing hats, walking, driving, etc. Wow, after seeing a picture of a Jennifer Aniston buying a gallon of milk I do suddenly feel like she is just like me!

Right...

Anyways, I saw this article in Forbes about celebrities who choose not to (or don't know how to) use technologies most of us use on a regular (and by regular I mean constantly, all the time) basis.

For example, Vince Vaughn doesn't have a cellphone. Orlando Bloom doesn't use email or even own a computer. Paul McCartney doesn't know how to use an ATM. President Bush doesn't use email (and was famously quoted in 2006 for saying he uses "the Google" to look at maps). Simon Cowell doesn't know how to use a computer. There are many more examples and funny tidbits in the article.

I think this does teach us an important lesson.... celebrities aren't just like us... which is probably a good thing.

-posted by Stephanie

One of our clients is an avid pilot and likes to fly into Gig Harbor for meetings. I'm thinking he might be interested in this story about a Boeing 727 that's been abandoned at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport in Vietnam. It's been there since December, but no one seems to know who the aircraft belongs to nor when/if he or she plans to return for it.

Boeing might want to take note of this -- perhaps there's a new partnership opportunity for installing a LoJack device on future aircraft.

-posted by Rachel

Sinrod Marketing Group's international opinion panel just completed a survey of 75,000 adults to determine first names associated with intelligence. The winners: Abigail, Alexis, Grace, Leah, Meryl and Vanessa for women, and Alexander, David, John, Kenneth, Samuel and Tim for men. The names most associated with leadership were Ruth, Alexander, Dwight and Lance. You can see the entire results of the survey in The New Baby Name Survey Book.

The fact that none of us at VOXUS have these names kind of puts the validity of this research in dispute.

-posted by Rachel

Remember the old song by the Manhattan Transfer called "Operator," where the singers want to get Jesus on the telephone? Now there's a web startup that's gone a step further. It enables those who are swept up to heaven in the Rapture (according to Christian tradition, this is what happens before the AntiChrist's seven-year reign of terror leading up to Armageddon) to send emails to those of us sinners left behind. For only $40 per year, YouveBeenLeftBehind.com will let you send messages to up to 62 people six days after you've departed Earth, if you're one of the raptured ones. And how does this happen when, presumably, the owners of the site have also zoomed on to their just rewards? There are five gatekeepers for the website, and if three of them don't log on for six days in a row, the emails are sent. I could point out some of the potential security hazards of this, or make any number of witty comments...but I'll just point you toward the article in Wired's blog. It's a good read.

-posted by Rachel

VOXUS has long been an all-Mac shop, so I suppose it's natural that we have a number of iPhones running around the office. As the owner of one, I've always found it interesting that the ringtone used in the Apple ads is not commercially available (didn't know THAT, did you?). Well, until now, that is. LifeClever has tracked down the fact that the tone actually is available, it's just buried in the sound effects folder with iLife '08. They've even created a downloadable version for you here. And if you like that, you might also like this similar tone from Helder Luis that gets progressively louder.

[via DaringFireball]

-posted by Paul

A new Web site was brought to my attention recently -- www.taaz.com. The site allows women to upload their photos and try on new hair and makeup styles. Having seen a few sites like this before that turn women into clowns, I was skeptical, so I decided to try it out. First, the site was extremely easy to use, no tech-savvy computer skills required. Second, the site offered a ton of hair and makeup selections. The toughest part was determining what was the best look. At the close of the session, you're provided with product recommendations -- for free -- that will allow you to achieve your look in real life.

This site would be a hit at stores like Sephora and regular drug stores like Bartells and Rite Aid. For me, it would greatly slim down the amount of time I spend debating in the aisles. For cosmetic companies, I could see this "photorealistic" virtual makeover driving both sales and customer satisfaction by boosting the confidence a customer has in a product and lessening returns.

Good Luck TAAZ -- women of the world need you.

-posted by Lindsay

BBC News: Daily Caffeine Protects Brain

(via DaringFireball)

-posted by Paul

11/15/2104

At 14:52:28, FreedomFighter69 wrote:
Reporting my first temporal excursion since joining IATT: have just returned from 1936 Berlin, having taken the place of one of Leni Riefenstahl's cameramen and assassinated Adolf Hitler during the opening of the Olympic Games. Let a free world rejoice!

At 14:57:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1936 Berlin; incapacitated FreedomFighter69 before he could pull his little stunt. Freedomfighter69, as you are a new member, please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion. Failure to do so may result in your expulsion per Bylaw 223.

At 18:06:59, BigChill wrote:
Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their first trip. I did. It always gets fixed within a few minutes, what's the harm?

(via Kottke)

-posted by Paul

So I'm fascinated by flash mobs, impromptu and seemingly random events that are often so over-the-top that they're funny enough for YouTube. A flash mob pillow fight is scheduled for Pike Place Market on Saturday, March 29 at 3:15 p.m. Details can be found here. Apparently, this is being sponsored by the Seattle Pillow Fight Club, proving that yes, indeedy, there is a hobby for everyone.

-posted by Rachel

Attention, ladies: according to this month's Cosmopolitan, the Number One new hot spot for meeting single men is...the Apple store nearest you. Find an outlet -- and maybe true love -- here.

-posted by Rachel

Just discovered a new mobile service that helps identify songs based on user voice, hum or whistle. Yes, that's right, you sing into your phone and the service will return possible matches. The service, brought to my attention by FierceMobileContent, is now available for Symbian OS S60 devices, with additional support to come. Check them out at www.melodis.com...

-posted by Lindsay

Mobile Phones Take Center Stage

I had the privilege last year to attend 3 GSM (now the Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona.  Despite the crazy hours, I was able to soak in a show with all of the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood premiere.  Only, the stars of this show are the latest and greatest cell phones and all of the cool applications that support them.



This year, I didn't head out to Barcelona (even though we had a number of clients who did).  So... I've been reading up on the show-stoppers there this year.  Seems the hint of a global recession has put a damper on the show despite the record number of attendees.  Regardless of the atmosphere, there's been a ton of hardware unveiled including Sony's first-time venture with Windows Mobile and the coming out for Google's Android, a free mobile  platform.

If you want to read up on this year's happenings, The Industry Standard put together a nice summary article.

Missing Barcelona and the tapas...

-posted by Andrew

So it's well-known that VOXUS is a dog-friendly office. Maybe that's why I hadn't heard about I Can Has Cheezburger until John Cook of the Seattle P-I wrote about it in his blog. This bizarre Seattle startup gives cat lovers a place to upload their photos with captions that, frankly, make me laugh and scratch my head. What's even weirder is that John reports that the angel investor-backed company is profitable! You gotta wonder...

-posted by Rachel

Finding good local restaurants in Seattle is an easy task thanks to a number of new dining review Web sites, like Ultraspoon and BooRah. On the other hand, sites that can direct you to the nearest, cleanest toilet, are few and far between. A new company named MizPee is hoping to change that. Brought to our attention by Paul Rasmussen at FierceWireless Europe, MizPee allows guests to rate local restrooms and access this critical data via the Web and mobile. Like traditional star ratings, the more toilet paper rolls the better...

There are already 18 facilities included on MizPee in the Seattle area and many with good ratings. To find an acceptable toilet near you, visit: MizPee.

-posted by Lindsay

If you are look for some last minutes ideas on where to take that special someone for Valentine's Day, Network World has a new slide show up that lists the 10 best places to take a techie on a date. Grabbing the coveted number one slot is San Francisco's Exploratorium, a so-called "playground for the techie in us all," NWW even mentions that if you can't make it to the real location, you and your date's avatars can visit the Second Life version... so romantic. Also making the top ten are Cambridge's MIT Museum, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Seattle's very own Experience Music Project, which comes in at #7.

-posted by Stephanie

This one makes me laugh...Boost Mobile wants to help its "single and looking" subscribers find love this Valentine's Day. Now through February 14 users have access to a mobile social networking site called Crush or Flush for $.69/day. With the service, subscribers can find, rate and meet people within the Boost network. Seems pretty easy if you don't mind the risk of being "flushed." According to a Wireless Week article, more than 30,000 have already signed up...

-posted by Lindsay

Streaming-capable phone? Check. 3G network? Check. As reported in Wireless Week, YouTube has announced that tens of millions of videos will be available to an estimated 100 million+ devices. Previously limited to specific devices and operators like AT&T's Apple iPhone, YouTube is opening up access to mobile users everywhere using 3G and streaming-capable phones. The new expansion is poised to drive mobile video uptake by providing mobile users with access to a vast library of videos and allowing users to access account info and post comments via m.youtube.com and youtube.com.

-posted by Lindsay

'Tis the season for weirdly fascinating stories...take the Word Of The Year Contest or WOTY. I had no idea that Merriam-Webster sponsors the contest annually. This year's winner is w00t (pronounced "whoot" and spelled with two zeros), an exclamation of joy used primarily by gamers. One of the runners up is Facebook, which the dictionary defines as a verb. Not such good news for the Facebook folks, I'd think -- looked what happened to Kimberly-Clark's Kleenex brand. Once it became a household word and stood for any type of facial tissue, it became extremely hard to protect the trademark in court. Today, the company spends mucho money defending its property rights.

-posted by Rachel

For all of you gadget heads who didn't rush out and buy the new iPhone, Sprint is launching its BlackBerry Pearl on Black Friday (November 23), according to Gizmodo.

-posted by Rachel

Some of the VOXUS crew had a chance to participate last night in a midnight promo for Amazon, Microsoft and the huge launch of Halo 3. The setup: our friend and former co-worker Kevin Pedraja of Sterling Communications was selected for hand delivery of the new third edition of the hit Halo game for Xbox 360 as part of an Amazon launch campaign. The kicker: Halo's own Master Chief made the delivery. The Associated Press covered the event (pics not posted yet). Check the video below for more. Music by Edgen.

Halo Unbox

-posted by Paul

While I am still waiting for someone to invent the flying car that I was promised in the '60s, it looks like rayguns are coming every closer to delivery.

Off-the-shelf combinable fibre laser amplifiers are currently limited to 200 watts each, according to DARPA: and it wants to push this up to 1kW to start with, then to 3KW in the next phase. That would mean a Raytheon/Sandia style bundle would scale up to 100kW or even 300kW, well into the proper-deathray range. The DARPA chaps, though - perhaps upset by people calling them mad scientists - try to avoid talking about blaster guns too much.

I can't wait, although if we're having trouble as a society figuring out how to regulate a .22 cal pistol, I'd hate to see what happens if we ever get blasters that can vaporize a building.

-posted by Paul

The Ergo Bike Premium 8i has finally arrived. Germany's Daum Electronics has started to ship to the U.S. - 20 have come so far - the most high tech and interactive stationary exercise bike ever. The Ergo Bike allows riders to virtually compete with other riders around the world, via an internet connection, webcam, VOIP-enabled headsets, and brute strength. Groups choose a time and a course and go head-to-head in hardcore competition, with some courses comparable to Ironman Triathlon segments. The onboard computer also keeps track of each riders vital statistics (speed, pulse, distance, etc.) and has tons of other built in features. This fancy workout is priced at $3,500.

Article from CNET.

-posted by Stephanie

When I heard Nick Lachey (singer, reality star and Jessica Simpson's ex) was coming to Tacoma the other weekend, I couldn't resist hatching a plan to get my photos and experience posted on perezhilton.com, a celebrity gossip blog that gets more than a million hits per day. My task was fairly simple: get good photos, draft a compelling story and send to Mario Lavandeira (aka Perez Hilton) in a timely manner. With my mission laid out, I thought in advance about potential subject lines, strategized about what pictures would be most valuable and prayed that it was going to be a slow Hollywood news weekend.

Despite a busy weekend of celebrity gossip and disaster, my story made it onto perezhilton.com in less than 48 hours. To date, more than 170 comments have been posted. While I somewhat expected to get my story posted via Perez, I did not know that this experience was going to go full circle. By that I mean, I did not anticipate hearing about my blog success on a local radio station twice -- once WHILE Nick Lachey was a phone guest.

Below is a timeline of my incredibly exciting blogging adventure:

Friday, August 24
8:00 PM: Charged camera batteries

Saturday, August 25
10:30 AM: Arrived at Richard Karn Celebrity Softball game at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, WA
10:35 AM - 12:30 PM: Snapped photos of Nick Lachey and surrounding celebrities, including his girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo
12:45 PM: Met Nick Lachey, received autographed picture
11:40 PM: Sent 3 color photos of Nick Lachey and quick write-up of experience to famed gossip blogger Perez Hilton

Sunday, August 26
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM PT: Checked perezhilton.com incessantly
7:55 PM PT: Received a "thank you" note from Perez himself!

Monday, August 27
11:28 AM PT: Perez posts my three photos and an excerpt from my email in his blog entitled, "They're On the C-List Now"
11:29 AM PT: Started bragging about my success to friends, family and co-workers

Tuesday, August 28
7:32 AM PT: Seattle radio hosts Jackie and Bender of Kiss 106.1 discuss the celebrity softball game and mention photos of the event made it to the infamous perezhilton.com
8:37 AM PT: Jackie and Bender speak to Nick Lachey via telephone about the charity softball game and briefly chat about Perez' coverage of the event

-posted by Lindsay

Ever catch yourself dreaming up a new gizmo and praying it will come to market some day? Maybe I've been living under a rock, but Engadget just brought the Sony Reader to my attention (...a concept I thought I had invented some time ago...). The Reader is the size of a paperback book, carries around 80 full-length titles and provides enough battery power for 7,500 page turns. The display looks like old fashioned ink on paper and the text size adjustable. While you can't make calls from it, the Sony Reader does allows users to upload your favorite photos for sharing.

-posted by Lindsay

It's Monday, so in keeping with the intense need for coffee I think it's time to announce our website du jour. Check out the Oracle of Starbucks – it can accurately predict your personality type based on your favorite Starbucks drink. Awesome.

-posted by Rachel

Sprung from The Music Genome Project which assembled literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.
Check it out!

-posted by Shawnna

Mattel, the maker of Barbie, is preparing one of its biggest updates of the toy's image; this summer, it will start selling plastic "Barbie Girls," a handheld MP3 player that can be accessorized like a doll and used to unlock special animations, make friends and shop in a virtual world on the Web. The toy is likely to test Mattel's ability to stay relevant in a Digital Age that has changed the way little girls play and socialize.
Read on...

-posted by Shawnna

It was recently announced that Konami Corp. has created a "Dream Skincare" game for the Nintendo DS handheld. The "game" allows players to enter in their body temperature and weight into a graph and answer questions about their skin quality. The result: advice on how to keep skin healthy, including diet and other helpful hints. The game game also includes videos of Chizu Saeki, a Japanese beauty expert, demonstrating facial massages and skin maintenance. "Dream Skincare" is set to go on sale in Japan in October for $37.

-posted by Stephanie

A weirdly useful technology recently debuted with PhoneMyPhone. If you need to find your cell phone, or better yet, fake a reason to escape the office, PhoneMyPhone will call any number entered into its website -- for free. You can schedule a call time, which allows you to use the service as an alarm clock of sorts, or just implement it immediately. Due to pranksters, calls are blocked in the dead of night, though, so tough luck for any swing-shifters out there. This is just one of a number of websites in development by David Parkinson at KeenScreen.

-posted by Rachel

Friday fun... Five Flickr sets that aren't driving the long-term traffic you'd hoped for... (via Kottke)

-posted by Paul

A new GPS-enabled cell phone/dog collar from Pets Mobility has hit the market that will allow owners to locate lost pets and talk (yes, talk) to them or the kind stranger that finds them through a two-way cell phone. The new technology, featured in Wired, is just one of the latest digital doggie products aimed to improve a pet owner's life.

-posted by Lindsay

A little Friday humor before the long weekend...

-posted by Paul

Enough already!!! Did you hear, iPhone can cure cancer, heat your home and serve as a mediator for the middle eastern peace process. Okay, not really, but the media machine sure has hyped this little device. Maybe it's warranted. Perhaps it is the first seed of a new generation of mobile devices -- at least that's what the analyst community is claiming. Hell, after watching the demo and reading all the reviews, I'm ready to go buy one. Apple has done a great job of convincing the entire industry to drink the koolaid. Since its debut at CES, it's all my boss can talk about. Every day a new feature is unveiled and every day we talk about it. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic when technology sparks true intrigue and giddiness. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when cell phone service providers went through the bidding process for exclusive phone rights. For Cingular, or is it AT&T, this should help cover up the fact that their coverage area sucks and their network constantly drops call. With analysts predicting sales in excess of 1.6 billion in the first year, we'll soon see this phone everywhere. I can see it now, people praising the phone, and cursing the provider.

-posted by Justin

Here's something that's sure to brighten the day of our VOXUS associates who are wild about shoes. Amazon.com has just established Endless.com, its new shoe and handbag site with 250 brands and 15,000 styles and colors.

-posted by Rachel

Brett Marl at Pure Networks posted an interesting blog entry on the next generation of wireless routers now in development. The current standard of 802.11g carries speeds of up to 54 mbps, but that's not enough for moving huge files around your home, such as high definition video. The next iteration is 802.11n, which promises speeds of up to 600 mbps -- and, according to Brett, the IEEE governing standards committee expects to complete the guidelines by 2008.

-posted by Rachel

I was really excited when I finally reached the end of my 4 year contract with Cingular (and yes, in that time, I could have done another tour of college duty). So excited that I jetted over to Verizon to switch plans and get a new phone. I won't bore you with the details of why I despise Cingular....well, okay, maybe one or two for old times sake. I'm still disgusted over the AT&T/Cingular merger - if you were with AT&T, you basically got screwed and treated like dirt (i.e., migration costs, no rebates, etc.). Billing, billing, billing! My God, how many times can you mess up a bill. I was over charged five straight months to the tune of more than $300. Deep breaths. BUT, everything's gonna be okay now that I have "the Q" right? Ahh, I'm not so sure.

Likes: So I have to say, the phone is sleek, light and perfect for the pocket. The screen is clear, colors vibrant, sound is fantastic. Camera's great, video is great, MP3 player is great. Love the key board, love the sound quality and the speaker phone. Like the home interface with Windows Mobile.

Loath: The key lock function is wack. Once you lock the key board, the phone automatically shuts down after an hour or so. Volume!!! Apparently, you can only increase the volume while having a conversation...what's up with that. Sync with computer....unless you have a MAC. I was told I could download third party software, but have yet to locate it and have read some posts claiming the software is very buggy. Overall, the applications and features are just not granular enough.

I may need to jet back to the store and reinvest in a trusty Treo or RAZR.

-posted by Justin

The "random sparkly things" that always catch my attention are unusual company names. We wrote about HyperBoy last month, the stealth-mode company that is establishing another type of social networking site...and now we're adding the news that, if you're interested in being a beta-tester for the product, you can sign up.

-posted by Rachel

"It’s like a three- or four-minute-long concentrated, faster-cut, and more sarcastic version of The Daily Show." I'm making it my personal mission to drive traffic for this guy. Be sure to check out the archives. (Thanks to Daring Fireball for the link.)

-posted by Paul

We had to cover this one: Portland-based Imbibe Media just launched the premiere issue of Imbibe, "the first-of-its-kind, national consumer magazine dedicated to the entire spectrum of drinks... deserving in-depth exploration of the people, places, flavors and trends surrounding the fascinating world of beverages." Sign me up!

-posted by Paul

Here's an interesting breakdown of the world's top city skylines based on subjective analysis of esthetics, height, density, etc. Why do I post this here? Seattle is #15.

-posted by Paul

Okay, a little random Friday fun. Thanks to the guest bloggers at Kottke for the link...

-posted by Paul